Part II in a special Signal Tribune series
By Nick Diamantides
Staff Writer
Academic Uprise, a nonprofit organization located at 2501 Cherry Avenue in Signal Hill, has been helping struggling students in the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) for about 6 years. All of its services are free of charge, including the tutoring sessions it offers to high school students. The organization’s founder and CEO, Elder Eddie Pierson, is also an associate minister at New Hope Baptist Church.
“When the Lord led me to do this, he took me to the Book of Nehemiah,” Petersen said, explaining that he viewed the plight of many young people as similar to the plight faced by the people in the book.
Nehemiah, a book in the Bible’s Old Testament, tells the story of a group of exiled Jews returning to the ruins of the ancient city of Jerusalem in order to rebuild it, circa 445 B.C. The problem was that the city’s defensive wall was demolished and the Jews’ enemies threatened to attack if any attempts were made to rebuild the wall. Under the leadership of Nehemiah, however, the Jews set up armed guards to protect the construction crews until a wall strong enough to repel an invasion was built. After that, the inhabitants of Jerusalem could concentrate on building their homes and their lives.
“Education is the wall,” Pierson said. He explained that knowledge is like a protective barrier that keeps young people from walking on paths of self-destruction. The problem, he added, is that too often, there are strong forces at work that keep young people from getting the education they need. “For a lot of young people, a simple thing like having a tutor is going to make the difference between succeeding in school or failing,” he said. “We want to be the people who make that difference.”
Pierson noted that the organization began tutoring kids in a local church in 2001 but was able to acquire its own facilities a few years later. Then in 2006, LBUSD entered into a contract with the organization.
“When Academic Uprise partnered with LBUSD, we brought to them what we thought was a good process for helping students pass the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE), Pierson said. “We suggested that LBUSD allow us to tutor kids in math and English, and the district agreed to that.”
That year, 55 percent of the students tutored by Academic Uprise passed the CAHSEE. Pierson noted that the figurewas pretty good considering most of the kids in the program would probably have failed the test without the tutoring. Nevertheless, he and his staff worked to improve the program, and in 2007, 77 percent of the tutored kids passed the exam.
“Our success rate is due to our one-on-one tutoring and the fact that each tutor is charged with making sure that the kids get the information they need to pass the CAHSEE,” Pierson said. “Every tutor must make sure that the kids have learned everything that we have included in the lesson plan.”
Pierson noted that most kids who attend classes five days a week would balk at the idea of being in another classroom setting on Saturday, which is when the tutoring takes place.
“But they are willing to come to a one-on-one session,” he said, explaining that in that setting, the teacher can focus on helping the student overcome the specific obstacles that hinder the learning process. Pierson added that tutors will even take extra steps to meet special needs. “For one young lady who was hearing impaired, we found a tutor who knew sign language,” he said.
Many of the tutors are LBUSD certificated teachers who can also answer questions about procedures and programs available to the students through the district. Other tutors are students from Long Beach City College or California State University, Long Beach.
Currently, about 25 students are enrolled in the tutoring program, and most of them experienced improved grades within a few weeks of starting.
“It’s helped me in algebra because I am starting to understand it,” said 15-year-old Brandon. “I used to have an F in algebra but now I have a C, so I’m getting there.”
Sixteen-year-old Maria said the tutoring has greatly improved her ability to read. “This place is good for students that need help on their CAHSEE,” she said. “It has helped me a lot.”
While LBUSD compensates the tutors for their time, the program is absolutely free to the students. “All they have to do is be willing to learn and show up,” Pierson said. For more information, phone (562) 988-5811.
